One of my favorite features in Parade magazine is the issue where they grab a random sampling of people and report their incomes -- from the millionaires to the working poor.

Since I'm fascinated with how much money bloggers and webmasters are making nowadays, I've created a similar list -- a random sampling of people making money on the net.

Who's on Paula's List of Blogger and Webmaster Salaries?
I spent hours and hours scouring the internet for the last-reported information about bloggers/webmasters and their revenue. Some are hard-core daily bloggers, some run sites with lots of pageviews but not much written content -- like dating sites.

Be it listed on their own blogs, in articles about them or in the comments section of posts like Google Whores and other places, I tracked down the dollar signs of bloggers/webmasters around the globe.

I even used the Babel Fish Translator to translate info from other languages into English. (A big ol' Queen Liz curtsey to Bonnie Calhoun for this tip.)

For the bean counters...How did Paula calculate the list of blogger salaries?
Whether reported daily, weekly or monthly, I took the income number reported and annualized it to create the below list.

Since others reported a dip from prior months, I figured assuming a growth rate of 0% would even things out overall. (I did take Intermediate Accounting I and II in college...)

I also took the numbers at face value -- some webmasters list their gross revenue, some net. Others include swag, pay for services, etc. -- all the perks that they wouldn't have gotten if not for blogging.

Leave me a comment with a link to your post documenting your most-recent monthly blogging income. And title or tag your future income postings with "Paula's List of Blogging Salaries" so I'll know you want to be included.

Reading this list and researching other successful bloggers has inspired me endlessly, like Al's list of the most-read feeds on Self Made Minds.

And of course, good bloggers like John Chow lead the way -- he's one who proves he's not in it just for the money, since he donates all his blogging income to divine pursuits.

Comments

Laura said…

Interesting post! It's clear that some people can earn a good living by blogging. One figure I'd like to see added to your chart is how long each blogger has been at it.

I don't publish how much I've earned from blogging (I don't include Associated Content because I've never really been sure if that's a blog) is because I haven't actually earned anything. I have some balances pending, but so far, nothing to cash out.

Paula, you must have spent a lot of time researching this and putting it together. it's wonderfully informative. I've noticed your page views jumped dramatically from yesterday to today.Also, I think Darren Rowse's site on ProBlogging is excellent. There's a great deal to learn from his site - and yours.

Hey Paula, Wow this must have taken a lot of work. It's a great resource for judging one's own progress. Thanks for putting it together! I'm already a subscriber so I look forward to updates. Also I hope to have enough income to make the list someday. Right now my income is so low that I would be way too embarrassed to mention it! :-) Rock on!

Remember the old story about the Gold Rush? Most prospectors went broke, but most of the money made was by people selling goods and services to the prospectors. I wonder if web 2.0 is going to turn out the same way? Any idea how this Blogger salary list would break down between "How To Make $" Blogs and pure content bloggers?

Hey Paula, I have a couple of spin-off questions related to blog earnings.

You and others have mentioned switching your platform to Wordpress. I'm going to do it too. Just haven't decided when.

When I make the switch to a new platform and my actual domain name will that affect my rankings? In other words can my current Technorati rankings transfer to my new domain name or will the new domain have to start from the bottom and earn its own ranking reputation?

For those of you who are already earning income, would changing to your own domain name (for example, separate from your "Blogger.com" site) affect your earnings negatively just because the domain name changed?

Hey Menthix - I was wondering about your site. That's smart, having other folks create the content! But I love creating my own, too.

Don't worry, Al, you'll probably drop down as more and more of the heavy-earners realize the benefits to posting their income. It's sort of like putting-your-money-where-your-blogging is: People are more willing to follow folks whose methods are tried and true.

And Martin, I was just thinking about that same issue with transferring to Word Press.

I'm holding out for these reasons:

1 - My blogspot domain name is nearly two years old and ranked well

2 - Technorati doesn't yet meld the two links. For example, if I buy BIG6YEAROLD.COM or something, and folks start linking to that new domain name and still link to my old blogspot domain name, Technorati counts those links separately.

3 - There is a woman with a blogspot domain name in Technorati's Top 100 blogs.

4 - I could used a redirect and redirect all this blogger stuff to a dot com, but the Google Pagerank would take a long time to follow.

5 - While there are pro to switching to a dot com: More professional in the eyes of the IT community and everywhere -- plus the fact that some ad places just don't accept blogspot URLs -- I'm just not ready to change yet.

I want to, but I'm waiting till the right time till these issues are resolved.

Great Posting and obviously you are getting better and better as the checks show! Perhaps I can one day make money on Alex' blog to pay for the adoption costs!

Technorati Fav you and links. Cheers

Visit Alex web site today and discover the true, heart warming story of faith and prayers. Read how this young Ethiopian street child is being rescued from a certain death on the streets of Addis Ababa. DISCOVER THE REAL LIFE STORY OF HOPE AND SUCCESS FOR ALEX Link to us today and follow the progress as Alex adjusts to the safe world in Europe where he will hopefully soon get a good education and health. http://alex-roadtofreedom.blogspot.com

This is false/misleading information. Weblogs, Inc. made $100k a month from Google Adsense--not me personally. Weblogs, Inc. was a professional company with ~100 blogs including Engadget, Autoblog, TVSquad, and Luxist. It was the first large blog NETWORK... you will NOT make this kind of money as an individual on one blog.

Well all I can say is that this is a very encouraging list. I have started to post entries on how people are making money with their blogs - hopefully to help encourage others who want to do the same thing. If they see others making money with their blogs - hopefully that will encourage them as well.

I can not make a post on my blog about income due to privacy concerns regarding specifics, but I can provide it to you in private. My blog is http://www.jasonberlinsky.com and I will be more than happy to give you details if you would use the Contact form there or send an e-mail to jason [at] jasonberlinsky [dot] com requesting the information.

This is such an interesting post. I know courtney tuttle and I have been there since the beginning and how amazing his growth has been. I know he will be an impressive blogger some day that people will remember.

I guess I'm a bit like John TP and uncomfortable disclosing exact earnings. Besides, I'm not even sure if I count because my earnings come from my website, not my blog. At any rate, let's just say that GrownUpGeek.com would come in at around number 20 on your list. Earnings are good enough that the Adsense People were good enough to write about us.

Add me if you like. I am posting my earnings for a blog I started in November. I will be at the bottom of the list for my total earnings right now, but I did clear $100 in April so I can start working my way up hopefully.

This is the first time I've read your blog. What I like about it is how you ask people to Digg the article, subscribe to your feed, and leave comments. You aren't subtle, and I think that's great. I'll try to follow your lead. Here goes: go to my site and comment! And while you're at it, Digg an article. Heck...look for the Donation button and send me a couple of dollars! :)

Very cool post, I think it appeals to the voyeur in all of us. Knowing what others are earning. I run the Million Dollar Project and post my earnings from Affiliates, Donations, Adsense and Sponsored Reviews. $163.55 so far, in two months!

Hi Paula great post would love to be on your list. I like lists. It's pretty cool to see where you stack up against some of the names you hear all the time. Here's a link to earnings post:http://www.realitywired.com/2007/05/09/best-month-ever-almost-think-im-going-to-test-kontera/

When we talk about Blogger earnings, is it general or only earnings received from blogging? In Markus Frind's case for example, plentyoffish.com probably generates most of this revenue no? And it's a dating service not really a blog.

You know, this is a great list and you did great work on it, but it's not very accurate and you left a LOT of people off. There shouldn't be anyone below six figures on there. I'm not trying to tear you down at all, so please don't think that!

Anyways I was going to say what Talia said....gossip bloggers are making bank. Perez pulls in $30k per ad, and then there's JustJared.com, Pink Is The New Blog, Hollywood Tuna, The Superficial just to name the biggest ones.

Don't forget fashion bloggers either. Especially those in the Glam Network because they pay 20-50c per click.

Last month was actually my best month. I made atleast $1500 not including swag or AC. My blogs aren't all that popular either.

Paula, it's great to finally have a list of blogging "salaries" so that people who are considering blogging for income can get a reality check on how much you can (or can't) make online. Hopefully you can refresh the list every 3 months or so to add & update the numbers as you find more.

As Christ often went to mountainsides alone to pray and commune with Father God when the crowds pressed, I retreated to the weight machines and my local steam room to learn my next steps.

So here are the responses I owe all you lovely people!

* Yeah, derek, you’re not at the very end! ;)

* Donbizblogger - Yes, pageviews are at 10,000 and counting for the last 36 hours!

* Kenric it’s an honor to have you on the list.

* Adam Dempsey you are welcome, next month, higher higher salaries!

* Mubin I will look for your pic at http://mubinahmed.com/my-big-fat-adsense-check/ and live link to you in the name place.

* AgentSully my Digg team member. I’ll play around on Digg this weekend or so…

* Rich Minx – Thanks again for your Digg. Hope to add you to my next list.

* Benjamin Jones- Entrepreneur Guide – Yes, it took a few days. And now I’m so grateful to the Lord that the work is paying off. Look at all those backlinks!

*Digital Nomad – Yeah, and I forgot to add this quote I found:

“The term weblog was coined in 1997, shortened to the word blog in 1999, and has been mainstream for at least five years, according to research firm PQ Media LLC. As the number of blogs has exploded to more than 57 million today, the blog ad marketplace has also surged -- from $100,000 in 2002, to an estimated $36.2 million in 2006, according to PQ Media. Blog advertising is expected to grow to $300.4 million in 2010.”

So you’re right, there is lots of room to grow the market. And somebody is collecting all that ad revenue! It’s good to see a breakdown of how it all plays out…

*Harry L – Sometimes I think that, too, about the Gold Rush implications. Especially in the case of people buying $47 (or $97) ebooks left and right, hoping to get rich. At least I feel good promoting the free sites – like Associated Content. I like the ones where we only make money if our referrers make money, and so on. So no harm, no foul…

I believe this list will be the springboard for many, many more detailed lists, broken down by pure content writers, dating site webmaster salaries, social networking site CEO salaries, etc.

* MenthiX – Did you give me your domain name?

* Al Carlton – Yes, again, you’re only #11 for now because these are the only people I found who posted their salary. It’ll be interesting to see what number you are on the next, and then work your way back up…

*Martin Lindsey. – You, along with TD Jakes and Sunny Ellis have inspired more than you know these last couple of days. I just bought my dot com domain name. Look for changes! You’re making me an actionist too!

* Jim.Legington – Thanks Jim, again, for standing in the name of God Our Father in Jesus Christ. You are a blessing to us all.

www.MoneyMakersUpperRoom.Com/Thought.html

* BillyWarhol – That’s the spirit, keep-a-blogging and following your bliss. The real prosperity will continue, be it money, health, wealth, happiness, and all that good stuff.

* Matt @ NetBusinessBlog.com – Glad to have you on the list.

* Rod I’m coming back to Alex’s site to read some more…http://alex-roadtofreedom.blogspot.com

* kweenkong – Hey Kween. Thanks again for the Digg. Find out any more about Robin Thicke coming to The Riv in Chicago? Did you get your tickets yet?

* Jason – I seriously appreciate you clearing up my error of Weblogs, Inc. making $100k a month from Google Adsense – not you personally. I will correct this in the future list.

* rob from this site – no problemo. This is fun. I’ll have to hunt thru ProBlogger’s old posts to find a tighter and more accurate range. Thanks for the heads up once more.

* David – Okay, you’re on my next list, once I hunt down your income in the Money Blog Forums. God bless you.

* Anonymous – Thanks once more for hipping me to another six-figure blogger, Manolo the Shoeblogger at http://www.problogger.net/archives/2005/09/23/shoeblogs-six-figure-blogger/Now that you mention it, I believe I’ve read about Manolo the ShoeBlogger before.

*John Bokma – Is the over $700 USD per month from AdSense your sole blogging revenue? I will make sure to add http://johnbokma.com/ with your 15,000 daily visitors to my favorites. And I’m always grateful to gain SEO advice. Talk to you soon. Thanks.

* Financial Imbalance thanks for calling it interesting. As more and more people give me details regarding their blogging/webmastering income, I pray the list becomes more and more accurate – a catalyst for many lists like this to come. There’s a reason that Forbes list is so popular! Billionaires actually call to find out if their on the list each year.

* JoLynn Braley – Thank you for taking the time to comment.

*Rose - Yes, just researching this list inspired me so much to take new directions in my online career.

* Jason – Glad to have come to an agreement with you on how we’ll report your http://www.jasonberlinsky.com revenue on the next list. Look forward to it.

* neil I will add you at $100 per month, and I’ll check ThoughtsFromMyLife.com before I post the next list, probably around June 19th, for more updating revenue numbers at your site.

*simon – Thanks, I’ll check your earnings at http://adsense-tw.com/archives/343 and translate from Chinese. And I’ll use the $1,840 from Jan. to March as a baseline for my next list.* Derrich – Thanks for leading me to http://www.derrich.com/2007/05/08/blog-money-april-2007/ for your income numbers. Take care.

* Theda K. – Okay, give me a few days, but I’ll come check out your site and Digg around and comment and stuff. Nice to meet you too. I’m so blessedly busy with God making this post go viral, He answered my prayers!

* Grant – Yes, we all like to know how much is possible to earn, right? I’ll check out the Million Dollar Project for your posted earnings from Affiliates, Donations, Adsense and Sponsored Reviews. $163.55 so far, in two months, good on you, mate!

* Neo – It is an inspiration to see how the top earners do it, so we can follow. The honest ones, that is. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime…

* Anonymous – Now that I know Kumiko pic is a fake, I’ll size it down next list.

* Working Nomad – Wow $6000 a month! And I love your stuff. Your quote about being able to work anywhere really gave me food for thought. Or food for blog, should I say.

* crazy4bass – Thanks for the link to http://www.realitywired.com/2007/05/09/best-month-ever-almost-think-im-going-to-test-kontera/ -- I’ll check it out and add you.

* Latimer Williams – You’re a good blogging friend. Thanks for the comment.

* grandcanuck – Yeah, I’m just grabbing income anywhere I found it. I know this list will spur plenty of more detailed list, broken out by niches.

Hi Paula! Thanks for replying. As far as I know those bloggers don't publicize how much they make per month. But most of them you can check how much they charge for Blogads.com alone, that's how I know they're making bank, lol!

Interesting post. I guess it took you some time to gather such great information.

My website (http://deadzoners.blogspot.com/) is ranked 110k on Alexa. I'm still struggling with earning money online. I did earn much with the advertisement on the site now (which is Adbrite). Can you show me some tips to promote my site, or some other ads-network to try, or some ideas that may apply to my case?

Hi Paula, please add me at the bottom of your list as my blog turned 1 month only 2 days after you published your list. Earnings 24.81$ with Adsense, recent pay to post Creamaid and very recent pay to post Smorty and Bloggerwave. Cannot wait to start ranking higher on your "mentors" list.

Good for you and your 250 bucks! I pray it grows and grows as the Lord wills it to...

Don't forget to tag your next income postings with "Paula's List of Blogger Salaries" so I can easily find you for the next update.

Hi Svend-I can't help but think of that Swedish chef muppet when I type your name...(Yer de smer de smer..Do you remember the muppets?)

Anyhow, I just created the list -- and I grabbed the most current info I could find on blogger/webmaster salaries.

I did due diligence to link to reliable sources, so if you click the "Paula's List Source" next to each entry, you'll find further info on where I got the numbers and what date they were reported.

Since you "recognize some of the people on there but also know that they make more than that currently," PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE lead me to a link (leave it right here in the comments section) that states reliable reporting of their more current income, by all means!

I plan to update this list monthly, so check back for the next one around Juneteeth, or June 19, 2007.

I finally got back to your comment to my comment. Yes Michael Arrington mentioned the $150,000 a month in an article to a journalist - there is a link to it here on my very own blog - http://www.netmonetization.com/2007/03/150000-month-from-blog.htmlRegards, Vic

Where do you get these numbers? Are these based on only the blogs you know of? Because our company (www.linkworth.com) pays bloggers for placing ads through our network and we have MANY bloggers that would score in the top 10 of your earners.

That might be a cool tool someone can come up with....blog monetization ranking.

Thank you so much for the kind words, God bless you for your kind heart!

I will be sure to include it in my next income report (if the revenue won't collapse, LOL), did you mean just to link to this post or to the Digg's page, or..? Sorry, I'm just not sure how did you mean to 'tag'. I am a pro as you can tell :D

Thanks to PayPerPost and ReviewMe, a lot of us are profiting from blogging. In April 2007, I pulled in $1300 just from my blogging. I don't expect I'll hit that amount again for awhile, but it was good to see my blogs monetized.

Anonymous-If you click the "Paula's List Source" above next to each salary, you'll find the source that reported the earnings.

And if you click my Google spreadsheet above, you'll get the details on how I annualized the figures.

So, I just popped over to www.linkworth.com -- how much are the bloggers paid over there?

Do you have a link to the top 10 blogger salaries that would blow these off the list?

Do tell, do tell...

I can put you guys on my next list with a good link if you all publish your blogging earnings and revenue.

Hi Liza -No, I'd better stay away from Digg for a while. I'm on their blacklist!

But seriously folks, yes dear Liza, just place "Paula's List of Blogger Salaries" in the tag section or "labels" section on your blog post -- or, just title your blog post with "Paula's List of Blogger Salaries - My Income for May 2007" or whatever, and hopefully I'll find it.

Now that you've left me a comment, I'll make sure to dig thru all these blogs that have left a comment so that I can include the clean ones that report their income on my next list.

Matthew the Article Writer -You're an inspiration. I'd better head back over to PayPerPost. I haven't been there in a while. Check for your name on my next list!

Thanks for the post Paula, was a very inspiring read especially for beginners.

It seems really hard when first starting out. I don't even make $1 a day yet, and I'm spending hours everyday trying to promote my blog and get more traffic. My page rank is 3, but I hardly get any traffic.

I think I'll look into the "no follow" movement, will this help with traffic or only page rank? I really need more traffic rather than PR.

Paula! I think you need to delete Kumiko's picture. She deletes her picture on her blog after I send her private message on her MyBlogLog "Does Siryur have any meaning to you, check and review me on www.ronalddaniar.blogspot.com" Yes, you will be surprised when you read my article. I like her blog articles actually. I remember she wrote on her blog about herself that it was really her picture. Well, I did not get any reply from her and she seems she does not want to reveal the truth. If it is really her picture, then I will write my apology to her for writing a mistake. Read the article on http://ronalddaniar.blogspot.com/2007/05/kumiko-suzuki-or-siryur-suzuki.html Peace!

And yes, the DoFollow movement can help with traffic too, because folks searching for DoFollow will find you, and if you join the DoFollow blogroll like this one, those people will come visit your blog and comment, too.

Hey Ronald - I just visited your blog. Interesting story on Kumiko...now I really want to know who the real Kumiko is!

Fascinating and marvelous post! I cannot imagine the digits of the people that earn income from ads business that you have mentioned. I wish i could be like you have said. Thanks for your information. Good Luck.

The number you reported for my annual income is low. You only guesstimated my Google AdSense income.

As I said at Julie's blog, it is pretty impolite to ask a woman her age - very bad jujumagumbo - so let's be fairly discrete about Internet income.

Suffice it to say that with my current AdSense income (you used data 22 months old), Kontera income, own ad sales, sales of electronic Ebooks and Checklists, and other miscellaneous income, the number you quoted is pretty far off. :-)

Pure content bloggers rarely publish their income. I make about $300 a month running google ads in The Knitting FiendI never intended that to be a big money making blog, I don't put ads in "hot spots", but I do recover my hosting fees and make enough money to buy some yarn. (With knitting, the revenue varies during the year. I make more in December and less in June!)

Great post, Paula. As for Perez Hilton, one of the entries on your "My Prayer List", that's an easy one, since he is currently getting sued. He is widely reported to earn ~ $800K. Just Google for: perez hilton $800000

Hmmm...do websites count for income as well? I don't make much from the blogs themselves, but my blogs feed my websites which is where I get most of my revenue. Hard to estimate on an annual basis and the sites are all new and growing. I would guess that right now I am making about $600-800 dollars a year from a combination of three websites and three blogs. Note that all but one are less than a month old and I just began promoting that one recently. Am I doing well? I'm happy so far and have great optimism!

This is a brilliant investigative post. But I am a little disappointed. I came here from Problogger expecting to see a list of bloggers with six figure income. As someone commented earlier it shows that the rush for blogging as a living is not healthy. John chow is right, 99% of the bloggers can't earn more than 100$ a month. A more realistic approach would be to consider blogging as a part time job to earn a few hundred extra apart from your day job. And a few hundred dollars a month is all that even a very dedicated blogger is likely to earn from blogging and thats what I am going to do.

Paula, great work. Hope I can make it to the list in a few months. :)cheers from Sri Lanka.

This is the most interesting post I ever came across. But the next thing I keen to know is, the list of "highest spending" bloggers or webmasters. haha... I hope to know if people whom earn more normally spend more :)

I'm thinking of posting my income again at the end of June 2008 -- if you follow the blog posts linked to at the top of my blog under the "how to make money online" link, you'll see more recent figures than this list.

But I still haven't posed income since December 2007, I believe. Or November 2007.

I have read your article and a couple of those you listed and I am pretty much sure that if you follow them right,There are lots of people who get on the internet hoping that they will be able to learn how to make money online fast, but most usually without a clue as to where to start.

Thank you for posting this amazing blog! It is good to know there is still ways to make money out there and I think this blog reinforces the fact that even during a depressed economy we can still look for the light(of our crts glowing through the night)

I born in a poor family so want to make my family little bit happy.I'm very impressed in your income. Please teach me how to make that money. please please teach me how to earn form blog please please.

Since i had born from a poor family and trying to make my family little bit happy, then I saw your income I'm very impressed, please teach me how to make at least 1/4 th money, please please please please.

Go on over there and subscribe to get email updates -- because I'm trying some new stuff and researching how people are making more money online than me, and I will update people on how much my income grows by trying the new methods.

GREAT REVIEW!I pretty much agree with all your thoughts you said in your post, especially at the end of your article. Thank you, your post is very valuable as always. Keep up the good work! You’ve got +1 more reader of your super blog.